A Mourinho tactical masterclass saw Manchester United beat title favourites Chelsea in a game that saw the Old days of the Theatre of Dreams return. It's been a long four seasons since United last beat Chelsea and five seasons since they last beat them at Old Trafford.

After the Spurs result the day before, Chelsea were left just four points clear, having been over ten points clear a few months ago. defeats to Spurs and Palace as well as a draw at Turf Moore has seen their lead decrease massively putting them under an increasing amount of pressure. 

Arguably the greatest threat of Chelsea comes from Eden Hazard down the left wing. This is where Mourinho's masterclass comes in as what had looked like a slightly weaker side to rest players for the Europa League turned out to be the side that prevented Chelsea from getting a single shot on target for the first time in over a decade.  The team was set out to stop Chelsea from playing with their wingers and getting Rashford and Lingard in behind when the ball was with the Red Devils. Herrera was put on the right to man mark Hazard the entire game and this worked magic as Hazard could not get the ball and therefore could not get in behind to cause a threat as he so often does. Darmian was man marking Pedro down the right meaning effectively both of Chelsea's wingers had been taken out of the game. Valencia played as a right back however when United had the ball he went forward and played  as a right winger leaving Herrera to man mark Hazard behind him. Ashley Young played as a left back with Darmian when United were without the ball and went forward like Valencia when the ball was won. All of this comes down to the experience and tactical skills of Mourinho who used his squad to surprise many people while pulling off a fantastic result against Chelsea.

No matter how well United played, nothing takes away from the poor performance of Chelsea. With a player of hazards quality you would expect him to react to Herrera's role however rather than drifting wide where he could het the ball and attempt to take on Herrera and most likely beating him, he instead continued to try and get the ball towards the centre of the pitch where Herrera easily tackled him or he was forced to play the ball backwards. 

United started fast with Rashford snatching a shot forcing it wide however just minutes later, the ball did deflect of Herrera's hand however nothing was given, before a brilliant through ball was threaded into Rashford for him to tuck home for 1-0. United were all over Chelsea in the first half with Young missing a couple of chances from the edge of the box. Costa arguably could have been sent off in the first half after clattering into Bailley for no reason and elbowing him as well as stepping on Pogba's foot which he got booked for. 

Very early into the second half, Young did a fantastic job at keeping hold of the ball around the edge of the box, before the ball deflected off a Chelsea player and fell to Herrera who smashed it against Zouma sending Begovic the wrong way. After this goal, United sat back and countered when possible. Chelsea never threatened the United goal and ultimately deserved to lose the game.

United can now push on closer to the top four spaces while Chelsea have to try and keep hold of their 4 point gap on Spurs for another few weeks in order to become Champions.

Jack Antoniou

Whitgift School